Dive Brief:

Using 1,700 tons of saltwater-resistant stainless steel, the skyscraper boasts the largest steel facade in the world and is designed to reduce wind loads by 35%. The tower also features a ground-floor public atrium with retail and dining space, as well as a transit hub.

The Ping An Finance Centre is now the second-tallest building in China after the Shanghai Tower in Shanghai, China. On an international scale, the Thornton Tomasetti and Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates-designed Ping An Finance Centre is also shorter than the Burj Khalifa (2,717 feet) in Dubai and falls just 7 feet short of the Makkah Royal Clock Tower, which is 1,972 feet tall.

Dive Insight:

China consistently tops the list of the country with the most skyscrapers completed each year. In January, the CTBUH announced that China claimed 84 high-rises completed in 2016 out of the 128 built worldwide, marking the nation's ninth-consecutive year in the top spot.

Building news is full of the race to be the "tallest." Construction recently started on what will be the tallest building in Fort Lauderdale, FL, the 46-story 100 Las Olas. The mixed-use skyscraper will feature a 238-room Hyatt Centric hotel and 121 condominiums with a starting price of $800,000.

Developer Howard Hughes Corp. has also made a mark in the quest for height with its 51-story riverside tower in Chicago, the tallest office-only building in the city since 1990.

Early last year, the CTBUH proclaimed that 2016 would usher in the era of the "megatall" skyscraper, which the council also said would begin to lose its momentum by 2020. The Ping An Financial Centre falls just 3 feet short of the megatall category.

The council said that by 2020, it expected the number of megatall towers to increase from three to seven. However, Thomas Leslie, professor of architecture at Iowa State University, told Construction Dive last year that he doubted the push to go higher would simply stop in a few years. "Someone has been proclaiming it's the end of skyscraper development for the past 25 to 30 years," he said.